Tyson Fury KOs Deontay Wilder as Bob Arum calls it the greatest heavyweight fight ever
Legendary promoter Bob Arum has delivered a controversial assessment after Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder’s incredible trilogy fight.
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Tyson Fury chose You Shook Me All Night Long to announce his entrance for Sunday’s trilogy fight against Deontay Wilder and they brought the AC/DC classic to life in the ring.
The walls at the packed T-Mobile Arena were shaking and the earth was quaking and, after almost 11 gruelling rounds as good as any boxing has seen in years, Fury knocked out the American with a devastating right hand.
“He’s a tough man. He took some big shots tonight. It was a great fight, as good as any trilogy in history,” said a jubilant Fury.
Watch Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury III replay on Main Event available on Foxtel and Kayo, Sunday 10th October from 12pm AEDT. ORDER NOW >
The Gypsy King remains undefeated and the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world but what he gained was the anointment of history.
Promoter Bob Arum, who was in the Philippines in 1975 for the Thrilla in Manila, the third and final fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier that many call the greatest heavyweight fight of all, said this surpassed even that.
“This is the best heavyweight fight I have ever seen,” said the 89-year-old.
Oscar De La Hoya said he would not “disrespect” Ali by calling Fury the greatest heavyweight but said that “in our era, he’s up there”.
He was one of the many past greats gathered here to marvel at the fight, and Fury.
“The sky’s the limit for Tyson Fury,” said former light heavyweight world champion, Antonio Tarver.
“Fury fought the perfect fight. He knew Wilder was going to bring it and he was going to get hit. But that man is so resilient. And he wore out Deontay. Wilder’s legs went.”
Britain’s last lineal heavyweight champion, Lennox Lewis, called Fury “a great champion”.
“He is the king of the division right now,” he said.
The fight began with Wilder the aggressor, as is his wont. He targeted Fury’s stomach with body shots but Fury hit him with a big overhand right at the end of the round which opened up the contest.
Wilder only came to boxing at 20 - Tyson, in comparison, was practically raised in the ring, his father a former bare-knuckle Irish Traveler fighter - and made it to the top because he had so much power in his right hand that he didn’t need more weapons.
But against an expert tactician like Fury, not using the jab, not setting up right hands with left hooks and keeping the gloves down was always asking for trouble.
Fury exploited these weaknesses in their first fight - which ended in a controversial draw - and battered Wilder in the second, early in 2020.
In that fight, Wilder’s corner threw in the towel, which angered him.
“I want to go out on my shield, like a warrior,” he said at the time.
He would get his wish.
But not before putting Fury down twice.
The fight looked like it would be over in the third round when Fury caught Wilder with a right that sent him to the canvas. But he was saved by the bell, and in the next round, incredibly turned the tables and Fury had to endure two standing 10 counts after being knocked down.
The Englishman then used his bulk to wear down Wilder, though the American remained dangerous. By the 10th round, though Wilder’s spirit remained strong, his legs were gone. He fought gamely but was caught with a right that sent him tumbling in the 11th.
“I did my best, but it wasn’t good enough tonight,” said Wilder.
“I’m not sure what happened ... he didn’t come in at 277 pounds to be a ballet dancer. He came to lean on me, try to rough me up and he succeeded.”
Wilder refused to accept Fury’s congratulations after the fight, which angered the Englishman.
“I beat him three times and I’m a sportsman and wanted to give him some love and respect,” he said.
“And he didn’t want to give it back. That’s his problem and I pray for him.”
And with that, as he likes to do after a win, Fury burst into song.
He sang Walking in Memphis, but changed the lyric to Walking in Vegas.
Before the fight: Tyson Fury v Deontay Wilder
Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder both weighed in at the heaviest of their careers, signalling their eagerly-anticipated trilogy fight in Las Vegas on Sunday could become a battle of attrition.
Theatrically donning the black cowboy hat of professional wrestler The Undertaker at Saturday’s weigh-in, Fury came in at 277 pounds (125.6kg), four more pounds than he weighed in their second bout, in February 2020.
Wilder, meanwhile, weighed in at 238 pounds (104.8kg) after coming in at a then-career-high of 231 pounds in his seventh-round TKO loss to the self-styled Gypsy King.
These weights represent a stark contrast to their first bout – a controversial draw in 2018 – in which both were about 20 pounds lighter.
For Wilder, the weight gain represents an determined attempt to nullify the bigger-framed Fury’s relentless charging.
“I’m bench pressing a little over 350 (pounds) so it won’t be none of that rushing me and putting his weight on me,” the big-talking American said.
Wilder lost for the first time in his career in their second fight when Fury dominated him before Wilder’s then-trainer, Mark Breland, threw in the towel in the seventh round.
Most observers thought Breland was right to look after his fighter, who was bleeding from the ears and whose legs had been wobbly almost from the outset. Wilder – who made many excuses for the loss but failed to accept any of the blame – fired him in anger.
Breland responded that Wilder was “done” as a fighter because he had relied too much on his natural athleticism and his devastating right hand.
Breland was especially critical of Wilder’s lackadaisical training habits and refusal to use the jab to keep Fury at a distance.
“He never hit the bag. He don’t hit the speed bag. He don’t jump rope, he don’t hit the speed bag, and he don’t hit the heavy bag,” Breland said.
“One thing you all like to say is that, ‘He’s got a lot of power, and that’s all.’ I wish him well, and that’s it. Only got his power, and we’ll see how far that takes him, that’s all I’m gonna say.”
Wilder, who only took up boxing at the age of 20, retained ex-fighter and friend, Malik Scott, to train him for this fight.
Scott says Wilder is aware of his deficiencies and has worked hard in his training camp to overcome them. He also acknowledges that Fury is a very good boxer who can move and bob and weave very well for a large man.
“The fact is,” Scott said, “we’re dealing with someone who knows how to deal with a right hand. You can’t just use one tool.”
Fury, as is his wont when talking up a fight, was unimpressed with the hiring of Scott.
“One shithouse teaching another shithouse,” he said.
The undefeated Fury is a firm favourite in the sportsbooks here, as he is with the pundits.
“Tyson Fury has his number,” said former heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson.
The 33-year-old Irish Traveler from Manchester has certainly spent the week acting like he will become boxing’s undisputed heavyweight champion.
“The truth is there’s nothing that can beat me,” he said.
“No one can beat me; only myself. Whether I’m underprepared, or failed mentally, or whatever I’ve done, I’m the only person that can beat me.”
“Because they’re not going to out-gun me, they’re not going to out-size me, they’re definitely not going to out-heart me or out-balls me. So the only person that can really beat me is me, by being stupid.”
‘THIS IS MY TIME’: FURY READY FOR WILDER SHOWDOWN
By Robert Lusetich
Pinned atop Tyson Fury’s Twitter page is a photograph of him in his pomp, holding boxing’s four most prestigious heavyweight champion belts.
But, like much about the Gypsy King, this is not what it seems; a braggadocios boxer gloating, on top of the world after upsetting the defending world champion, Wladimir Klitschko.
“Never judge someone by (sic) there exterior look,” he wrote, “I looked on top of the world but inside I was dying #mentalhealth.”
Whether by design or happenstance – or a mixture of both – Fury has understood that to become truly great, fighters need to be both devastating in the ring and harness the power of narrative outside of the ropes.
Watch Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury III live on Main Event available on Foxtel and Kayo, Sunday 10th October from 12pm AEDT. ORDER NOW >
Muhammad Ali was the greatest because he told us he was, relentlessly, and with such style and panache that, when he won, it only served to amplify his greatness. Mike Tyson was the “baddest man on the planet”, and lived that life, mostly regrettably.
In more recent times, MMA fighter Conor MacGregor has most adroitly understood that anonymity really puts a hurting on the bottom line, which, in the fight game, is what really matters. And so, he became Notorious, and very, very rich.
But none of them compare to Fury. He is a character never before seen. A 2.06m beast with a 216 cm reach (Ali, in comparison, had a 191cm reach) Fury and his story belong in a Guy Ritchie flick, or perhaps the acclaimed television series, Peaky Blinders, which features hardscrabble Irish Travellers roaming around England.
Though raised in England, his roots are very much Irish. His father, Gypsy John Fury, began as a bare-knuckle boxer and was the hardest of men. When Tyson was 11, he left school in Manchester to join his father and two brothers tarmacking roads. Fury’s mother, Amber, had fourteen pregnancies but only four children were born, and her only daughter, Ramona, died as an infant when Tyson was nine, which had a profound impact on him.
He began boxing at 10, but his father was jailed soon after for gouging the eye of another Traveller over a family feud, and eventually his uncle Peter – who’d done a 10-year stretch for running a drug empire — took over.
And just when it seems the story would go where it looks like it’s going – nowhere good — Tyson Fury overcomes every obstacle and earns a shot at the world title against Klitschko.
Klitschko was famous for his cannon of a right hand, but he couldn’t land it in a 12-round fight that the judges gave to Fury.
“Tyson was the faster and better man tonight,” Klitschko said.
“I felt quite comfortable in the first six rounds, but I was astonished that Tyson was so fast in the second half as well. I couldn’t throw my right hand.”
Therein lies another Fury contradiction: despite looking like a big oaf, he has tremendous speed, agility and guile, and never seems to tire as big heavyweights often do.
But soon after reaching the top of the mountain, Fury came tumbling down. He was stripped of his belts for not fighting the sanctioned challengers and within a year had blown up to 145kg.
“I’m going through a lot of personal demons,” he admitted in late 2016.
“I’ve not been in a gym for months. I’ve been going through depression. I just don’t want to live anymore … What I’ve got is incurable. I don’t want to live. All the money in the world, fame and glory, means nothing if you’re not happy.”
Dulling his pain with cocaine and alcohol, he was diagnosed as bipolar and manic depression and sought professional help. Eventually, he not only saved himself but resurrected his boxing career with a shot at undefeated American heavyweight, Deontay Wilder.
Fury surprised Wilder in their 2018 bout, which ended in a draw. Many thought Wilder had won the first fight but there was no doubting that Fury was the better man in the second, in February, 2020, when he won by technical knockout in the seventh round.
And now the world eagerly awaits the trilogy fight, in which Fury is the favourite, and not just in the ring.
“The only thing we truly own in this life is moments in time,” he said this week, drifting from Gypsy King to Philosopher King, “And this is my time.”
* Wilder v Fury III is available only on pay per view Main Event, Sunday, 12pm.
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